Chapter 2: Death is part of life

Introduction

Death is part of life. And while some parents feel they can protect their children by not talking about it, both research and experience tell us they benefit from:

Honest conversations with people who care about them.

Being included in the process when someone in their world dies.

Children can start to learn about death from an early age, long before someone important to them dies. Life provides us with daily opportunities to talk about the natural cycle of life and death. This might be the death of a goldfish, a beloved children's movie or an act of terrorism seen on the evening news.

As we talk with our children about life-limiting illness, dying and death, it’s important to understand that they grieve differently from adults. They also grieve differently from one another.